The XX Factor: What women really think.

Puff This ...

Were you just being provocative, Emily? Describing a best-case abortion as nothing more than "a few not ideal hours'' makes it sound like an afternoon at the DMV without a good book. And aren't you being just as categorical as you say Caitlin Flanagan is when you argue that giving a child up for adoption is definitely trickier than having an abortion? (Except when it's not?) Whether you think abortion is morally neutral, intrinsically evil, or the gray area that hijacked our whole political debate, though, here's what I wish we could agree on: There is no other-than-partisan purpose in lobbies on both sides of this issue raising huge sums that only stoke the argument, like some hideous perpetual flame. And despite all the rhetoric to the contrary, it's the fight itself that keeps us from focusing on the widely agreed-upon need for birth control, birth control, for heaven's sake birth control.

That Erica Jong post on girl-written puff pieces that Dahlia mentioned made me laugh, though; first, why shouldn't we have enough confidence to cop to an interest in not only Iraq and the Darfur and the dollar, but also shoes and Carla Bruni and poor, poor Katie Holmes? (Today's shiniest news bauble: The man Princess Diana considered the love of her life has, as the Daily Mail put it, "run to fat.'' In his first-ever, "world exclusive'' interview Pakistani doctor Hasnat Khan, reveals ... lots less than the photo of him does. "I found her a very normal person. ... I think she did great work for the country. ... I always wanted to follow in the footsteps of my maternal grandfather, who was a doctor.'')  If women really were the lead dogs on the newshound puff patrol, however, we'd completely dominate daily journalism at this point, because we are all style reporters now. There's no mystery about why that might be; as news outfits cut staff to boost stock—and are expected to magically do More with Less—it's way cheaper to provide commentary than reporting. And though women are still overrepresented on the boo-hoo brigades sent out to gather quotes from grieving families, I think I mostly differ with Jong on what the meaning of "puff'' is.

She complains that we delve into such "idiotic'' and trivial matters as a political candidate's marriage—but then also charges that we "never discuss psychological depth because hey, who cares if the president's a bomb-happy dry-drunk trying to play out an Oedipal war with his father?'' I write a lot about political marriages, so I guess her puff pastry is my meat and potatoes. But isn't looking at a candidate's closest relationships how we find out about bomb-happy dry drunks trying to play out Oedipal wars? Not a whole lot of that sort of thing comes of just-the-facts coverage of position papers. Doubtless we can do a better job of covering the issues, even in our current pared-down state. As can any readers who feel deprived of substance.

re: Vive La France

Emily,

So glad you brought up the love affair between Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni. It's pretty much a de rigeur topic of conversation in European capitals at the moment, but I daren't mention it too much on an American Web site, during the all-too-serious American primaries, lest I be thought lightweight. Here's what I like about it

1) As you say, the protocol issues. How do the Jordanian and Egyptian government treat the president of France and his mistress? I have just come home from a dinner at which Count Z. held forth on this subject, arguing that everybody ought to get out their 18th-century history books and work out how heads of state treated Madame de Pompadour and the various other royal mistresses, back in the day. There's plenty of precedent!

2. The way it makes everyone else look dowdy. Apparently the Blairs were holidaying in Luxor at the same time as Sarkozy and Bruni, and the latter made the former look terrible. Tony breezed down to dinner in some inappropriately casual outfit, and Cheri made him go upstairs and put a jacket on. Allegedly. Then when Cheri got cold - it's chilly during those desert nights - the waiter had to lend her a jacket. Allegedly. Meanwhile, over at the Sarkozy-Bruni table, everyone looked magnifique. Allegedly. Anyway, one would have loved to have been there to watch everyone's facial expressions.

3. The way it puts everyone else's sex scandals to shame. What, Bill Clinton talked dirty with an intern in the Oval Office? So what! The president of France can get on a plane with his notorious mistress, an ex-girlfriend of Mick Jagger, and go to Egypt! And the French tell pollsters it's his business, not theirs!

4. The possibilities it opens for everyone else. If Hillary would just find it in herself to ditch Bill, she could end up with ... (who is the male equivalent of Carla Bruni.? Warren Beatty?) ... Anyway it would be more amusing to gossip about them than Paris Hilton. Though she should wait until after she's won, as Sarkozy himself did.

Anyway, to be continued. Can't wait to find out if Carla's really pregnant.

Vive La France!